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Manager Thomas Frank

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Are you Frank Out or In?


  • Total voters
    623
Spurs Twitter has gone into overdrive, wouldn't surprise me to see Frank out trending over the next couple of weeks.

Still won't judge the guy fully until he gets some players back on the pitch and more time to work with the squad but what I'm seeing is really worrying, won't lie.

Yup.

This is structure is basically what they talk about a lot.


View: https://x.com/donmafilms/status/1981097144686981305?s=46&t=fbqxNuG9CT4qTaiJx8mBjg

IMO it has to be informed by analytics to some degree because Slot is doing it at Liverpool.

Any tactic or shape can work if given time to perfect it. The decision Frank needs to make now is if this midfield experiment is worth risking the whole project on because if we keep performing this badly whilst he figures it out, the noise online will start filtering into the stadium. We’ve seen it so many times before.

Personally, I don’t really get what he’s trying to do in midfield but I’m no where near ready to give up on him yet.
 
People are off their heads and have no idea how shite our squad is.

Look at our CM options.

Palhinha performing. Needs a better partner.
Bentancur shite.
Sarr a kid we signed for cheap.
Bergval a kid we signed for cheap.
Gray a kid we signed for a lot of money and never plays midfield.
Bissouma a waste of space. Not wanted

Just what the fuck do people expect Frank to do.

Our attack.

Son gone.
Maddison injured.
Solanke injured.
Kulu injured. That’s essentially last seasons first choice attack.

Frank is having to play

Odobert a kid. A punt. Not good enough.
Simons. Hasn’t adapted yet.
Kudus only bright spot.
Muani barely kicked a ball been injured.
Richarlison, rancid shouldn’t even be at the club.
Johnson utterly woeful.
Tel not good enough.


I mean just what do the fan base expect? This squad has been assembled with some cheap punts on young players and other players who were signed in previous seasons and clearly aren’t good enough.

Our squad is fucking woeful in midfield and attack.

On top of that we need a LB. Spence horribly upsets our attacking balance on the left and Udogie is made of glass.

Our squad is a mess. When injuries clear up it’ll be better but right now Frank is having to use kids in midfield and attack or just downright crap players.

The fans need to wake up and realise our squad isn’t that good at all. Our CM, LW and striker options for example are terrible.
 
Whoever the manager is, they'll have the same issues. The squad as a whole isn't good enough to compete on 4 fronts, especially when you add the injuries into it as well.

Every manager needs time to adapt to a new club, regardless of it's the same league. Unfortunately a number of the modern day fans just want a change as soon as something goes wrong. No patience or belief at all.
 
People are off their heads and have no idea how shite our squad is.

Look at our CM options.

Palhinha performing. Needs a better partner.
Bentancur shite.
Sarr a kid we signed for cheap.
Bergval a kid we signed for cheap.
Gray a kid we signed for a lot of money and never plays midfield.
Bissouma a waste of space. Not wanted

Just what the fuck do people expect Frank to do.

Our attack.

Son gone.
Maddison injured.
Solanke injured.
Kulu injured. That’s essentially last seasons first choice attack.

Frank is having to play

Odobert a kid. A punt. Not good enough.
Simons. Hasn’t adapted yet.
Kudus only bright spot.
Muani barely kicked a ball been injured.
Richarlison, rancid shouldn’t even be at the club.
Johnson utterly woeful.
Tel not good enough.


I mean just what do the fan base expect? This squad has been assembled with some cheap punts on young players and other players who were signed in previous seasons and clearly aren’t good enough.

Our squad is fucking woeful in midfield and attack.

On top of that we need a LB. Spence horribly upsets our attacking balance on the left and Udogie is made of glass.

Our squad is a mess. When injuries clear up it’ll be better but right now Frank is having to use kids in midfield and attack or just downright crap players.

The fans need to wake up and realise our squad isn’t that good at all. Our CM, LW and striker options for example are terrible.
Well said!

Those thinking Frank is the problem haven’t got a Scooby!

There’s a reason he’s playing a double pivot of Pahlinha and Bentancur and that was ably demonstrated by how exposed we were when Bents went off.

Bar Kudus our frontline are incapable of holding onto the ball and offer little threat. Hopefully that will change somewhat when RKM is fully match fit and available.
 
If we keep playing like this the results will follow. There is barely any attacking quality. The goals we do score are set pieces, own goals and deflections.

It' seems like a combination of : a manager who has never played fluent attacking football.
The wrong mix of very average technical players .

The fact that Johnson and Richarlison are our top scorers on a goals per basis says it all.

We have half players. They have one attribute .
I would have a massive clear out and take the loss - by selling

Johnson
Richarlison
Solanke
Tel
Spence
Kinsky

Would youth players do any worse?

I know Kinsky and Spence are controversial but neither are good enough.

Yang looks a more complete player. He can do two things. Beat a man and shoot.
 
Devils advocate.

Frank has turned a side that finished 17th into one that looks like it might finish top 8 and is still competing in the Champions League.

The team’s crap. Not the manager.

Lost Son and Maddison in all that too.

Of course it is better than last season.

And so very clearly the side has very many limitations and needs to change.

And I am VERY far from suggesting we should sack or write off Frank.

But what I would like to see is simple- try to solve SO obvious issues. TRY to make us look better.
When I look back at the Villa game, biggest issues for me were following -
- very slow and sluggish build up play and lack of vertical passing
- thus inability to get ball into dangerous area where attacking players have space to create something
- having zero real contribution from LW cause the player there is 10 million miles away from adequate LW which allows to comfortably double mark RW player

What was the answer for the next game?
- not to give more creativity and vertical passing - rather opposite - taking off Xavi (#10) for essentially another #8, so made us MORE conservative
- starting with exact same tactical setup that does not even try somehting new. Same LW, same total zero from him, same double marking of RW

I was INCREDIBLY impressed with first 3-4 games.
Because I saw that we played one way against PSG. Then we had Burnley at home, we changed the shape and also rotated players. Then away game vs City - new approach again. We did well in ALL of those 3 games.

I was like "wow", that is really damn flexible manager right here!
Yet everything that has followed this run, has been ... mostly really fucking shit. In terms of how we play. Since then we have had 3 good games (West Ham, Doncaster, Leeds) and 7 shit games (though we managed 1 win - vs Villareal - among poor performances). And the worst part is that since then we have played either 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with mostly same personell, mostly Palhinha and Bentancur as double-pivot.

Where did that flexibility went? I don't understand. But at this point, watching us play has become annoying and dull chore not something to look forward to.
 
If we keep playing like this the results will follow. There is barely any attacking quality. The goals we do score are set pieces, own goals and deflections.

It' seems like a combination of : a manager who has never played fluent attacking football.
The wrong mix of very average technical players .

The fact that Johnson and Richarlison are our top scorers on a goals per basis says it all.

We have half players. They have one attribute .
I would have a massive clear out and take the loss - by selling

Johnson
Richarlison
Solanke
Tel
Spence
Kinsky

Would youth players do any worse?

I know Kinsky and Spence are controversial but neither are good enough.

Yang looks a more complete player. He can do two things. Beat a man and shoot.
We haven’t seen enough of Kinsky to know and selling Spence…… :pochcmon:
 
Our squad is fucking woeful in midfield and attack.

Well, Spurs are the 4th top goal scorers in the league thus far. Only Chelsea, City and Woolwich have scored more. But, given that the chances created is very low, it's fair to say that the trend is unlikely to continue.

It's clear that Frank priority is "not losing" ahead of winning - he prefers to play safe and take few risks. It's OK to park the bus if you are winning, but if an opportunity presents itself to get a 2nd, you should take it - instead we see backwards passing when the break is clearly on.

The preferred front 3 of Odobert, Richarlison, Kudus have a combined 13 league goals this season and last season. Meanwhile a 20 goal a season striker is sat on the bench and can't get a game (and when he did - he scored 3 goals).
 
So not just to complain but to offer some alternative:
For example - I truly cannot understand, why couldn't we try -

-------Johnson---Kudus-----
----------------Xavi-------------
------Sarr-----------Bergvall--
--------------Palhinha----------
Spence--VDV-Danso-Porro-
-------------Vicario------------

And once Kolo Muani is up to speed then him in for Johnson (who so far at least could try to run behind the line and finish).
Also Sarr and Gray can be exchanged within themselves.
 
How on earth is Odobert "clearly an upgrade" ?

He's done absolutely nothing.
Cos under Frank Johnson actively makes the team worse unless we're playing on the break against a City/PSG type side. He passes backwards, never beats his man, is a non-entity defensively, makes shit touches and constantly turns over possession.

Odobert's not great but he can at least do the basics, occasionally dribbles his man and brings other players into the game.
 
People are off their heads and have no idea how shite our squad is.

Look at our CM options.

Palhinha performing. Needs a better partner.
Bentancur shite.
Sarr a kid we signed for cheap.
Bergval a kid we signed for cheap.
Gray a kid we signed for a lot of money and never plays midfield.
Bissouma a waste of space. Not wanted

Just what the fuck do people expect Frank to do.

Our attack.

Son gone.
Maddison injured.
Solanke injured.
Kulu injured. That’s essentially last seasons first choice attack.

Frank is having to play

Odobert a kid. A punt. Not good enough.
Simons. Hasn’t adapted yet.
Kudus only bright spot.
Muani barely kicked a ball been injured.
Richarlison, rancid shouldn’t even be at the club.
Johnson utterly woeful.
Tel not good enough.


I mean just what do the fan base expect? This squad has been assembled with some cheap punts on young players and other players who were signed in previous seasons and clearly aren’t good enough.

Our squad is fucking woeful in midfield and attack.

On top of that we need a LB. Spence horribly upsets our attacking balance on the left and Udogie is made of glass.

Our squad is a mess. When injuries clear up it’ll be better but right now Frank is having to use kids in midfield and attack or just downright crap players.

The fans need to wake up and realise our squad isn’t that good at all. Our CM, LW and striker options for example are terrible

Our attack is poor but our midfield isn't that bad, I think the manager is misprofiling some of these players and his midfidles setup needs to be questioned.
 
I have sympathy for Frank in regards to our attack.
He's not got a lot to work with. The worst set of forwards I have ever seen in a Spurs squad.

Not even exaggerating. They're a dreadful and thin set of choices. It's criminal how poor we are up front with the exception of Kudus, who currently seems better than he is due to everyone else being so fucking useless.
 
Our attack is poor but our midfield isn't that bad, I think the manager is misprofiling some of these players and his midfidles setup needs to be questioned.
The scary thing is I thought our midfield looked even worse when we brought on Simons and Sarr. It was like we had lost all shape and became completely disorganised.

The fans seem totally split on who should start now which is never a great sign because it means nobody including Frank has a clue who should be playing. I've seen well respected twitter accounts saying we should start with Palhinha Sarr and Simons in midfield against Everton. But to me that's the worst midfield combo we have put out yet and the last 30 mins yesterday was all the evidence I needed. It was only when Gray moved into midfield for the last 10 mins that we gained back any sort of control.

I really don't know the solutions yet. The double pivot can't be the answer but when we abandoned it yesterday we were a total shambles.
 
I have sympathy for Frank in regards to our attack.
He's not got a lot to work with. The worst set of forwards I have ever seen in a Spurs squad.

Not even exaggerating. They're a dreadful and thin set of choices. It's criminal how poor we are up front with the exception of Kudus, who currently seems better than he is due to everyone else being so fucking useless.

Kudus has been one of the best wide forwards in the premier league so far this season

I’m old enough to remember the likes of Chris Armstrong, Bobby Zamora, and Greg Rasziak… Don’t even talk to me about Helder Postiga and Bobby Soldado

We have Kolo Muani in our squad and Xavi Simons.

There is 2 young players in this attacking unit that everyone is obsessed with hating, even though Odobert is genuinely improving rapidly under Frank. But this is sooooo far from the worst set of forwards ever at Spurs, it’s a joke.

What they don’t have is form and chemistry together. Tbh I don’t think we’ve seen chemistry and strong relationships in our forwards since Son and Kane.
 
Yup.

This is structure is basically what they talk about a lot.


View: https://x.com/donmafilms/status/1981097144686981305?s=46&t=fbqxNuG9CT4qTaiJx8mBjg

IMO it has to be informed by analytics to some degree because Slot is doing it at Liverpool.

Any tactic or shape can work if given time to perfect it. The decision Frank needs to make now is if this midfield experiment is worth risking the whole project on because if we keep performing this badly whilst he figures it out, the noise online will start filtering into the stadium. We’ve seen it so many times before.

Personally, I don’t really get what he’s trying to do in midfield but I’m no where near ready to give up on him yet.

I will sleep tonight..Don Ma from twatter is on the case:thumbup: he's.. well, someone on twatter..knows his onions 🥒
 
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